A murder gone wrong . Or something much closer to home . Screaming after screaming. I need a lawyer. You guys are just trying to torture me. The evidence pointed out that shes the one that did it. I know how it looks, but i was also tied up. Knowing my parents, my mother and her limb nations, it was crazy. Nothing points to sandy, nothing at all. I was waiting for that moment, the lover, the affair, the 2 million Life Insurance policy. Do you think your mother is a murderer . Bob rough has made a career out of americas obsession with violent crime. The killer comes out with blood all over him. That indicates the kilr believ t dy murder scenes. This former small town fire chief now attracts an audience of a quarter million listeners. This really seems like a case of actual innocence. We do a crowdsourced reinvestigation of cases. A quarter of a Million People working together and investigating them as one streaming unit. And we can accomplish some amazing things. Reporter and he gets results. He helped get this guy patrolled out of a texas state prison where he spent 20 years of a 99year sentence. I think without bob and the listeners, to this day we would be sitting in prison. Reporter it didnt take long for bob ruff to be deluged with requests for help. We get on an average month, probably a couple of dozen cases pitched to us through our case submission email. And if we announce that were looking for a new case, that number can climb into the hundreds. Reporter out of those hundreds of emails, one story grabbed his attention. It was about a family shattered by one of the most bizarre crimes hed ever heard of. We screened it, started gathering investigation, getting documents, reaching out to the d. A. Within two months, we were rolling with episode one. Reporter its a case of murder that, five years later, is still highly controversial, when bob ruff starts to peel back the layers. Jaime estuardo melgar was born on august 10th, 1960, in guatemala. When he was just 3 years old, he immigrated to the united states. Jaime was known to be very intelligent and quick with a joke. And his charms werent lost on young sandy mcculloch. Reporter these High School Sweethearts were soon married. Jim finds work as an i. T. Specialist. Sandy, as a nurse. And together, they join the jehovahs witnesses, an austere christian sect that demands strict rules of behavior. Their daughter lizz is now in her late 20s. What was it like growing up as the only child in the melgar family . You know, i always had a lot of love and attention. I think i mightve taken that for granted as a teenager when, you know, you go through your rebellious years. Reporter lizzs cousin marissa remembers looking up to them as role models when she went to visit. Sandy and jim were just very loving towards each other, respectful. You could just tell they always had each others back. They were always helping each other out. I liked watching them together. Reporter as daughter lizz grew up, she became especially close to her mom, sandy. What was her personality like, in general . Shes just very caring and loving and nurturing. She was also a lot of fun. She knew how to joke around, tell a good joke. You know, i just felt like she was the embodiment of a mother, just the kind of person that you would picture when you think of that word. She was just such a loving person. Reporter but sandy is also a very ill person, suffering through hip replacements, hypothyroidism, lupus, and epilepsy. As a kid, you knew your mom was sick. Mmhmm. Reporter did you know she had lupus and epilepsy . She had epilepsy before i was born. And the lupus didnt come until i was about 3. I remember that because she had to seek treatment for about six weeks. She had gone paralyzed on one side of her body. She was in a wheelchair. She was having a really hard time. Reporter more and more, sandy is leaning on the support of her husband. But jims niece marisa says he never complained. In sickness and in health was a vow they lived by. I dont think that sandy and my uncle jim ever really got distant. If anything, i think their, you know, relationship just grew stronger and stronger. Reporter its a foggy night in houston in 2012. And Sandra Melgar is feeling pretty good on this night, so she and her husband jim decide to go out for a celebratory dinner. Its their 32nd anniversary. What shes told me was that they were gonna go out to dinner. They were going to their favorite mexican place that they go almost every weekend. And they stopped by a local cvs just to grab some drink mixers on their way back home. They got home. They started getting drinks ready. They got into the jacuzzi in their bathroom. They spent a few hours in there. Just this and that, chitchat. Suddenly, the melgars four dogs started barking in the backyard. So jim got out of the tub to bring the pups inside. Sandy continued to soak. The jets roaring, as the water massaged her, for about 5 to 15 minutes. I think he took a few minutes, so she decided to get out of the jacuzzi. She went to her closet, sat on her chair that she has in her closet, and started putting lotion on. Reporter thats the last thing that sandy says she remembers that night. The next afternoon is a planned family gettogether. Jims brother herman and his family show up at about 4 30. A little behind schedule, as usual. Here we are, running late. And he would always make fun of us for that, heres the melgar family, always running late. We knocked on the front door, and no one came to open it. All we heard was the dogs barking. I was telling my dad i remember clearly telling him this doesnt feel right. Reporter what marissa and her family are about to see will haunt them forever. 17 stab wounds, 14 cutting wounds, and 20 blunt force wounds. These wounds would take time to kill. Reporter stay with us. Reporter jim and sandy melgar, toasting 32, apparently, happy years together. Dinner out, followed by romance in the jacuzzi. But, saturday night becomes sunday afternoon, and their tidy brick home in suburban houston is about to reveal a grim secret and a puzzling mystery. When no one answers the doorbell, jims brother herman enters the house through an overhead garage door someone had left wide open. He continues through an unlocked interior door and into the house, unlocking the front door for the others. At first there is only the yapping of the four dogs, but then, from deep in the dim house, comes a feeble reply. I heard someone say, help, help it was sandras voice. I began to think of the worst. My heart dropped. I knew something was wrong. My dad, he immediately just sprang into action. Reporter herman follows the cry for help through the house, to the master bedroom, into the master bath. Sandys cries for help were coming from inside the bathroom walkin closet. Reporter podcaster bob ruff. The scene looked like something you would see in the movies. A chair was propped up against the door, holding it shut from the outside. He grabs the chair, moves it out from under the doorknob, and slides it to the side so he can open the door. And when he opened it he saw sandy lying there, tied up. She was on the floor, with her hands tied behind her, well tied. And her legs, too. Her arms are behind her back, but her arms were like this, and the bindings were wrapped multiple times around her forearms. Herman tries to untie sandys bindings from her arms, and he cant seem to find where the knots at. Ar the closet. M that theres a he grabs the scissors, starts cutting her out of the bindings. Reporter sandy seems groggy, but shes alive and apparently unharmed. But her husband jim has suffered a far more devastating fate. Jim was found nude and beaten and stabbed to death in the master bedroom closet which is about 30 feet away from where she was at. Reporter his legs are tied with telephone cord. A rope is loosely tied around his chest. Hes got a lot of defensive wounds on both hands, which means hes trying to either disarm the attacker or block the assault. Reporter Celestina Rossi is a crime scene investigator who helped authorities investigate the case. In her opinion, jim and his assailant were locked in handtohand mortal combat right here in his bedroom closet. Its my opinion that the assault, and his death, occurred in the closet. Reporter aside from the 31 cuts and stabs, jim was badly beaten in the face and head, causing serious damage to his skull, brain, and facial bones. Reporter it just sounds like a horrifically violent and bloody crime scene. This was an ugly murder. This is a murder on a man that was fighting with everything he had, fighting for his life. Hes grabbing ahold of the killers wrists, hes hitting them. Jim is blocking them, and grabbing them, and hes stopping them from ever getting a full penetration into him. And again, all of these injuries, none of them are immediately incapacitating, so this just dragged on and on. Reporter when sandy is freed from the closet and sees jims body, the family says she becomes hysterical. Sandy was very upset. She was crying uncontrollably. But my mom was holding her back. Reporter there is one question hanging over the crime scene. What the hell happened . Im sorry, i dont know if this is supposed to say that, but thats what i was thinking. I was thinking what, what could have happened here . I dont who could have done this to them . Reporter detectives and crime scene investigators swarm all over the melgar home, taking photos and video, trying to answer that question, who could have done this . Floating in that jacuzzi tub where sandy says she and jim spent some of the last moments of his life, a ghostly article of clothing a white blouse. Also glinting in the bathwater, very much out of place, a kitchen knife, which authorities believe was used to inflict many of jims wounds. How to explain this horrifying mayhem . Was it burglars, a Home Invasion . Sure looks like it. Drawers pulled out, jewelry e ns jims wallet and sandys purse dumped on the bed. And in the closet where jims body was found, two items of special interest, a locked safe, and hidden on a shelf behind hanging clothes, jims loaded gun. There was a loaded gun in the closet where he was found. It was located where he was found, directly above his head. p where he had grabbed the closet rod, the shelf in the shirt sleeve that was right there in front of the gun. He just never, sadly, never quite got to it. Reporter podcaster bob ruff says those items could indicate robbers were trying to get jim to open the safe, or that he was fighting to reach his gun to fend them off. Jim melgar, as is the expression in texas, went out with his boots on. He did not go down without a fight. Reporter the gun, the safe, the ransacked rooms, sandy bound hand and foot, barricaded in a closet. The crime scene seems to be telling a story. Antectivt to he survived the brutal attack has to say. Sandy had survived. She could at least give him a description of the offenders who had tied her up. Do you know what has happened today . My husband was murdered. How . I dont know. And thats where things really began to break bad for sandy melgar. Reporter stay with us. You discover paint bleed you under your tape. Not with frogtape frogtape is the only painters tape treated with patented paintblock technology. 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But later, ruff can be found giving his grey matter a work out in his studio as he and his producer, mike bussing, puzzle over the subject of their latest podcast episodes, the melgar case. We began this season with a story, because thats all we had. Reporter remember, it was on an afternoon just before christmas, 2012, that 52yearold jamie melgar was found brutally stabbed to death in the bedroom closet of his suburban houston home. Luckily, detective carrizal must have thought they had at least have an eyewitness. Sandy had survived. She could at least give him a description of the offenders who had tied her up. And thats where things really began to break bad for sandy melgar. Reporter just hours after her husbands body was discovered, sandy melgar finds herself face to face with two detectives. Lets start from the morning when you woke up today. Where were you at . Today . Yes. In the closet. Reporter during her twohour police interview, sandy seems dazed and distraught. In an unsteady voice, she relays what she says happenedtoat ugstto binks after arriving at home, she said she and jim undressed and got into the jacuzzi. How long were yall sitting there talking . Id say about two hours. What were yall talking about . The years weve had, about my daughter, about his job. Any disagreement . No, no. Reporter sometime after midnight, sandy tells detectives that her husband heard their dogs barking and got out of the jacuzzi to let them inside. It was taking a while, so i got out and got changed in my closet. I went in there and i started to change and thats all i remember until i woke up. Reporter sandy says she saw nothing and heard nothing, and she blames her minds blank slate on her epilepsy, saying she must have had a seizure. I usually cant move. I hurt all over and my head hurts. How often do you have seizures like that . Ive been getting them more lately. Im not able to drive anymore. How frequent . At least once a month, maybe. Reporter sandys daughter lizz says it wasnt unusual for her mother to experience epileptic seizures. Did you ever see your mother have a seizure . Yeah, i did, several times. Reporter what does it look like . Its violent, and its scary, especially if youve never seen one before. When she comes to, you help her into bed or help her off the floor, wherever she is. Reporter but the detectives clearly arent buying sandys account of blacking out during the vicious attack. Well, isnt it ironic that you black out that exact time when hes getting stabbed, and bludgeoned . I dont have an answer for you. Multiple times like that. Dying. Screaming for help. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I dont understand that. That doesnt sound right to me. Reporter could you see why they thought it might be her . I could see that. I could definitely see that. It does, it sounds crazy if you dont know her situation or even if youre not familiar with what epilepsy looks like. But knowing my parents, knowing my mother and her limitations, it was just crazy. Reporter the detectives relentlessly turned the screws on sandy, pressing her on whether there was bad blood between her and her husband. Was your husband abusive towards you . No. We got along fine. Ask all of my friends. We got along great. Did you stage that at your house, maam . Stage it . Yeah. Did you plan this . No, no, i did not. Would you tell me if you did . I wouldnt even know where to start, to stage it. And how am i gonna tie myself up like that . And not even be able to get out of it . Reporter but after sandy refuses to immediately take a Lie Detector Test im so stressed now. I cant even think straight. Reporter it appears the cops arent looking at her as a grieving spouse. They think shes a black widow. When you see your mothers interrogation tape, what does it make you think . It just makes me think that there were these two Police Officers who got tunnel vision as soon as they walked into the door and their sole purpose was just to find a way to bring charges on my mother. Its not really an interrogation. Its just trying to find out what happened. What do you know . She was the only one in the house. I dont think it was confrontational at all. I mean, one of the Police Officers is mimicking my dad calling her for help. Screaming after screaming after screaming. Hes in pain. I need help. E, sandy, i need help. I didnt hear anything. Just stop already. I need help, sandy. I need help. Help me. Thats it. Thats it. I need a lawyer. Im not talking anymore. Because you guys are just trying to torture me here. Did you kill your husband . No, i didnt. Well be back. Reporter while the interview may be over, shes far from out of the investigators crosshairs. Clearly, the evidence pointed out that shes the one that did it. Reporter coming up, did sandy melgar, a petite woman who suffers from lupus and epilepsy and walks with a cane, stab her husband to death and then walk away without a single drop of blood on her . Are you saying that the homicide detectives and the prosecution have pinned this murder on sandy melgar simply because it was the expedient thing to do . A prosecutor tying herself in knots to prove her case. When 20 20 continues. Reporter sandy melgars family says within a matter of hours, she goes from wife to window to prime suspect in the brutal beating and stabbing of her husband. Their niece, marissa campos, says the very evening the crime is discovered, it is immediately obvious detectives are laser focused on a single suspect. No manhunt, no mystery, in their eyes, she says, jim melgars its sandy. Just all their questions seemed to be pointing towards her. It seemed like they just jumped straight to, how was their relationship like . Was he abusive . They were pointing the finger at sandy. Did you love your husband . Yes, i loved my husband. Did you want us to find the killer . Of course. I dont think you do. Reporter those detectives interviewing sandy just cant accept that she could be oblivious as her husband is being murdered in the next room. Youre in the house, and your husbands in the house, and your husbands dead. I know that. I know how it looks. But i was also tied up. Reporter but podcaster bob ruff says he doesnt see sandy as a solid suspect. I just kept waiting for that moment of, theres the lover, thethaffair, theres the 2 million Life Insurance policy. And it wasnt there. Reporter even the authorities, it appears, might agree. At least, at first. The detectives interviewing sandy take a break to wake up a prosecutor in the middle of the night. But no charges, no handcuffs. Sandy is free to go. She moves on, trying to pick up the pieces. Enjoying time with her daughter and the growing family her husband jim never got to meet. A year and a half after the murder of her father, lizz learns of a major break in the case. A grand jury indictment. Her mother. There was a warrant out for her arrest. We called the lawyer and we had her turn herself in. I was very surprised. I jumped out o